Technology Enhances Black Friday Shopping

Black Friday sales have increased tremendously, not only because of the retailers opening their stores earlier, but also because of the rising technology that is starting to make shopping a lot easier. One of the top 5 Black Friday trends is for a shopper to skip the check out line by entering the bar code of a product in their smartphone and purchasing it directly from there. More and more Black Friday purchases are starting to come from mobile devices. It is even said that some sales associates who walk around the stores have tablets on hand, and can discreetly help someone to check out from the tablet. There are also several online coupon sites, such as Coupons.com that offer promotion codes and even promote deals on Facebook.

Black Friday Success?

I’ve had my fair share of Black Friday extravaganza from both sides of the playing field. I’ve never been one to camp out overnight or get up at 3 a.m., but I have braved the madness a few times to help other people shop and get a few good deals.

The last two years, though, I worked at American Eagle Outfitters on Black Friday. Last year I worked at the store in the Castleton Square Mall which is one of the largest malls in Indiana with one of the highest traffic and income ratings (along with theft, but that is irrelevant to this specifically) in Indiana malls. This year I worked at the American Eagle store at the Hamilton Town Center in Noblesville. It was a drastic difference just in general from consumer demographics and psychographics between the stores, but the difference on Black Friday was also very evident.

The main customer base in the Noblesville area for AEO are more white collar workers located in the upper middle class whereas many customers in the Castleton area market tend to be affiliated with the working and middle class. The Noblesville store also seemed to have less ethnic diversity than the Castleton area. At both stores the customer base was mainly moms and men and women generally from the ages of 13-40. Psychographics including lifestyles and personality are much different between the stores as well. Both stores have their share of irate customers, but the people at the Noblesville store tend to usually be friendlier to the employees. This may be due to the fact that my new store has less traffic meaning more focus on each individual customer for our sales team, but the difference is definitely evident.

Another major difference between stores is the reaction the customers have to sales, promotions, and deals. It’s my impression that this is due to the differences in their lifestyles and personalities. Customers at the Castleton store love deals and sales and will eat it up all day. American Eagle credit card activations are also much more prominent with that customer base. They are focused on getting bargains and the best deal. The Noblesville store shoppers are more focused on fashion and their wardrobe. The average dollar sale is much higher and parents here will easily drop a few hundred dollars on their children on each trip (especially for back to school). This is why I think the Black Friday sale did not attract many extra shoppers to our store that day. Barely any shoppers came out specifically for our sale (it was just an added bonus for many). All-in-all it was an alright Black Friday and AEO does very well financially as the second highest outfitter in the U.S., but they need to figure out different promotions and focuses for the different psychographics and demographics of customers they have depending on each store.

The world of Swing

The swing dancing world is one that has been around for a very long time. While subtle changes in fashion and dance happen from time to time, the behaviors and fashions accepted in the community tend to remain the same.

In looking at who the opinion leaders are in many fields, it seems that they are always alive. Opinion leaders are those who adopt the new trends early and they are very aware of a variety of products. Most importantly, they are perceived as credible sources.

My question is whether an Opinion leader can lead from the grave. For the world of swing dancing, the strongest opinion leader is Frankie Manning who passed away in 2009. Frankie is regarded as the king of swing and all group members look to him for what the standards should be. Frankie had a unique way of dressing and he danced like no one else. Even though he has passed away, members of this group still watch youtube videos, read books, and compare experiences they had with Frankie. All of this knowledge is compiled to become what swing dancers consider the norm. Marketers often use Frankie’s face or norm when trying sell products to this group. However, swing dancer’s are smart and savvy people and we often know everything there is to know about Frankie. As a result, there are a ton of competition for selling the few products that Frankie endorsed but if one can establish him/herself as the market leader, he/she has a huge market to sell to.

The swing dancing world has very strong ties and density. The members know each other very well because they spend most weekends together. New members are easily thrown in to the mix and accepted. The group members span huge age gaps and are from all types of backgrounds and locations. Because of this members easily fit in and feel like they are a part of the group. This also means that members try to conform as quickly as they can. There are certain dress expectations that are highly recommended and there are dancing behaviors that expected to be upheld. Conformity is key for incoming members. Because of this, there is a high brand-choice congruence. Members who are highly involved will quickly purchase all the products that are common amongst dancer especially dance shoes. Dance shoes not only serve a practical purpose but also a social purpose. If one does not have the right shoes, they stick out amongst all the other members.

Because members are so close, WOM is easily the strongest way of advertising. Vendors and companies can either rise to the top or plunge into the red with only one good or bad sale. There are current reference groups that are still living. Many dance instructors are regarded as the best in the community and newer members look to them for new moves, music, and even fashion.

Social Influence, what else is it influencing?

With all the talk in class on Wednesday about social influence and social media I could not help but to let me mind wander about the negative effects it could have. This information immediately brought me back to middle school and how looking good/being cool was more important than grades. All I wanted to do was impress my friends (mainly girls ;) so I could fit in. Then it hit me, my friends and I were the social influence.

I spent all this time worrying about what I was wearing and how much gel I had in my hair but for what reason? Then I heard about the coercive power which brought it all together. There was a group of kids who were “cool” but if you were not “cool” you were going to hear about it from that group, bullying. The sad part was the kids who got picked on were the kids that didn’t have enough money to buy the “cool” clothes and it was obvious.

Luckily, I didn’t have to deal with them because they seemed to be alright with me but for all those who were not “cool” they were picked on. Is normative influence a main influence for bullying? Bullying is huge problem in grade schools today and young kids have been committing suicide because of it. Some groups or clichés of students within the school have an immense amount of coercive power. I think this is why so many people do by expensive or nice clothes in grade school simply to avoid the coercive power and the feeling or rejection. It seems to me that social and normative influence has more power over consumers than I thought.

Reactance

Reactance deals with the rebellious side of certain consumers who possess an "ironic" hipster attitude. These consumers often shut down and run the opposite way when there is too much outside pressure to buy a product. As cool as it is to do what your reference groups are doing or wearing, some people like to stay out of the mold, rejecting what is popular at the time being (which hipsters do, but then form their own culture, making them ironic).

There are times when I become part of the crowd and copy others around me, and other instances where I exhibit the reactance attitude. One example is with a product called Toms Shoes. Toms fans, please don't get upset. In my opinion, Toms shoes have gone from a noble cause to a slightly corrupted enterprise. There are so many models to chose from now, and they seem to be the most trendy thing you can possibly get. I could buy the shoes because I have friends that wear them, because they're hip, and because they help poor children overseas, but I won't. I feel like I would buy the shoes for the wrong reasons, so I'll never make the purchase.

Marketers must use caution in making their product appear to be the ultimate and only choice for consumers who jump to reactance. If I was the CEO of Toms Shoes, I would continue to stress the benefit to children over the new stylings and new product lines. If Toms Shoes starts making a ton of new products, they will lose consumers such as myself who see the company as somewhat of a facade.

Social Influence

Today's class we discussed social influence and how we adopt characteristics of those we spend the most time with. So I decided to try to find some truth to this in my life. It didn't take me long to find examples of this just in a few texts my friends from my primary group would send me, or logging into Facebook and noticing posts by my friends sharing similar thoughts that I have.

We intentionally seek people with similar qualities as ourselves, and that goes for when you are looking for friends or even a boss looking to hire a new employee. If anything, social media has increased the speed that we start to become more like our friends. We can instantly share videos or thoughts to a larger number of friends that previously we would have to their number to call or see them face to face. Now all we need is a name to find someone.

It comforting to know you have people in your life that are going to agree with you when you have thoughts, but I think from now on I am going to try to learn what makes my friends different from me. It will be interesting to find out about things we don't share, thoughts or opinions, and I think that will only make friendships stronger. So I'm glad to learn about social influence and begin improving tie strength with my buds.

Black Friday Madness

This past Thursday, I participated in the infamous "Black Friday" festivities. My friend and I had no desire to purchase anything, only to go have a good time. With this mindset, there was really no way we could be disappointed. We got to the mall at around 10:30pm on Thanksgiving and immediately got in the Macy's line. In hindsight, we both wished that we had gone to Wal-Mart or Best Buy as the demographics probably would have been much more exciting to observe. Even though we were stuck with the "uppity" Macy's consumers, the trip was still worth it. We got all kinds of footage and ticked people off, as was our goal.

What intrigues me about Black Friday is how normal people so easily reveal their selfish, materialistic, and nearly animalistic personas. It is more of a psychological situation than anything, much like rush week or an Insane Clown Posse concert. In their minds, people dismiss all their negative actions, almost as if the event was not an actual part of their lives. The power of a crowd is that it empowers people to blend in and escape all accusation; more times than not, this yields chaos. In a competitive event such as Black Friday, shoppers feel that if their selfish side does not come out, all the selfish people will come out on top.

Buying habits changing

It's an obvious fact that our buying habits change as our households change. In high school my buying habits were much different than they are now in college. I had a good idea that this happened, but I didn't fully realize it until I went home over Thanksgiving break.

While at school I don't buy a whole lot of food. I have a meal plan so I eat many meals on campus. I eat out a decent amount (maybe 5 times a month) and I buy tea and soda about every other day, but other than that I don't spend a whole lot of money. Not having an income could be a good reason for that fact.

When I went home for break is when I realized how different my buying habits change. We don't eat many meals as a family at home due to different work schedules, so I usually am pretty on my own for eating. On breaks I sleep in for a long time so I might not wake up until around lunch time. Because of that, I usually only eat two meals a day, one around 3pm and then again late at night. Over break I found myself eating out with my friends literally every night. I went home on Tuesday, so from Tuesday to Saturday I was spending anywhere from $3-$8 every single night.

Eating out so much could very possibly have to do with the fact that there is nothing to do after 10pm in my town, so going out to eat is the first activity we think of, but regardless that is a lot of money. That is 5 times in less than one week compared to my regular 5 times in one month. This just goes to show that buying habits can definitely change depending on which household you are taking place. It also shows that buying habits can change instantly. It's not always just a gradual change.

Never Again

On Thanksgiving Day, after I had happily stuffed myself with delicious food (REAL food, not MP food), my sister and I decided we would go see a movie together, and then do our first ever Black Friday experience afterwards since the stores were opening at midnight (and Walmart was ahead of the game as usual by opening at 10pm on Thanksgiving.) Obviously, marketers have been at work, and decided that the consumer would respond well to an earlier opening of stores for Black Friday. Unfortunately, my sister and I fell into that trap. We did some pre-shopping research by looking at the printed ads in the paper and pinpointed some items we were hoping to purchase. Then, when 10:00 came, we happily made our way to Walmart hoping for some good buys.

Unfortunately, my sister and I are obviously novices when it comes to Black Friday shopping. Although we both embody the characteristic of frugality, we have never taken it as far as waiting in line for hours and hours to get "the good deal." The culture of the United States has definitely influenced our consumer habits, whether we realize it or not. As far as uncertainty avoidance goes, one can clearly see the extent to which the U.S. prefers chaos to structure. My sister and I nimbly weaved through the massive crowds in Walmart to try to find what we wanted, but then got literally trapped at the back of the store by shopping carts and rather large people. The fact that U.S. consumers are considered more impulsive, risk oriented, and self-confident than other consumers of the world is also brought out by Black Friday shopping, as shoppers unabashedly push other people to grab the deal they want (I've seen it happen!)

So, needless to say, my sister and I have decided that paying a teeny bit more money is worth the comfort of shopping without fearing for our lives...and there's always Cyber Monday thanks to technological advances in society!

A Musician's Fatal Flaw

One thing that I have noticed as a musician is that most of us tend to fall victim to impulsive buying. This is a belief that only is strengthened every time I go to the music store with my anyone in my band. Sometimes we make a trip to go simply because we are bored, which is the worst thing we can do. Sometimes one of us actually has a reason to go, and naturally, some of the others will tag along. However, once you're in the store, and you're in that enviornment, seeing everything you want, you're around fellow musicians and you're trying out gear, you start justifying decisions to buy things and making trade-offs with things you otherwise may have bought, but you decide not to buy to leave room in your budget for some guitar accessory you buy while you're at the guitar store.

I've done this too many times. I'm a guitar player and drummer, so I have a ton of stuff I COULD buy anytime I go to the music store. Sometimes I just get an extra pair of sticks, just so I feel the trip was "worth" it. The worst thing is when I find a good "deal" on something I've been keeping my eye on. When I see a price that is just unbelievable, I immediately fall victim to the line of thinking "this is such a good price, I NEED to get it now." even if I really can't neccesarily afford it.

I also realize how brand loyal I am everytime I'm there. Now, in my own defense, there are a lot of reasons for musicians to be brand loyal. But, I take it very, very far. I won't even buy a different brand of guitar picks because I'm that picky, no pun intended, on what I use. Once I settle into something I know is comfortable, it's hard to change. That is about the only thing that saves me from all of my impulse buying, because if it isn't a brand I like, I won't touch it.

My adventures with my shadow

This summer my wife and I bought a 1983 Honda Shadow for $800. I knew when I bought it that it needed a "little" bit of work, but little did I know how much the "little" amount of work would cost me. When I bought it i knew that it had been sitting in the guy's garage for two years without being touched. I went to pick it up gave the man the money I have been paying for it ever since. Right off the bat it had to go into the shop to get the carburetor worked on. While it was in there the mechanic told me the tank was rusty and needed to be cleaned and resealed. It took about a month for them to get it back to me. After I got the motorcycle back, as I was riding it back to Anderson from Huntington the speedometer stopped working and it still didn't run right, it had trouble starting. So I went and bought a new battery because the one it had in it was about 5 years old and needed to be replaced. After I put the new battery in I realized that there was more wrong with it. The carburetor still needed worked on and I needed new ignition coils. Once I got those problems fixed, it still didn't want to start up very easily so I had to buy new CDI ignition boxes. I could only afford one though. The back tire went flat and the headlight stopped working, and the starter went out. Don't get me wrong, when it did run it ran well and it was very fun. It was just keeping it running that was the problem. Needless to say it was becoming a money pit. That was the majority of my summer. I was just trying to figure out how to keep my motorcycle running so my wife and I would have two vehicles (and we really liked it). Since I bought it, I have put around $2000 in to it not including what I paid for it. I have learned some things with this experience. First of all, I now know that when I get another motorcycle I will pay a little more and make sure that there is nothing wrong with it. Secondly make sure there is nothing wrong with it before you buy it. And Third, if anybody needs help getting a seat off of a 83 Shadow, I can now do that with my eyes closed. I have a bad case of buyers remorse.

Running Free

Ever since I got to college, I have LOVED running. I go running in the mornings, on the weekends, in the evenings, and sometimes between classes... especially when I'm a little late. lol One thing I do love more than running however, is buying new running apparel. Shoes, shirts, shorts, socks, you name it, I love it! My favorite store to shop for these kinds of things would be Finish Line. I have bought every pair of shoes from Finish Line for years and no where else. On top of only shopping at Finish Line, I also only purchase Nike. Over the years I have become extremely brand loyal to not only Nike, but also Finish Line. This, slight obsession, began when I purchased my very first pair of Nike Free's. From the moment I put them on, I was sure that I had found the most superior product on the market, as far as running shoes go. I swore from that moment, that I would only run in Free's produced by Nike.

Over the years Nike has produced many new versions of the shoe, and I find myself always going back to the Frees I feel in love with 5 years ago, and begin to fall more and more in love with them. Through the Frees I have discovered Nike to be in the front of my taxonomic category for running apparel and most importantly shoes. To me it is almost a central route when persuading others to purchase Nike products, especially the Free shoe. Nike is the best, because it is the best. I have grown a strong emotional and cognitive attachement to Nike because of its performance, and the way it makes me feel when I wear it. Nike, in mind holds a strong symbolic view to all who wear it and use it. Nike has become the leader in running apparel for me, and has proven itself time and time again.

One Dirty Fish Tank

If you do not know me, you may not know that I have a slight obsession with fish. The whole "Finding Nemo," "fish are friends, not food," that applies to me.

Well, like any fish tank, mine got dirty. If you know anything about fish tank filters, you know that each brand of filter system has a specific cartridge for that brand that replaces the old ones. I ran out of the cartridges. I went to Wal-Mart, where I usually purchase them, and they were sold out of the size that I needed. I had to go to Meijer to see if they supplied that brand. When I got there I discovered that they did not. My boyfriend had to buy me a new filter system just because they did not have that specific brand size anywhere. I did not realize until it came to buying a new filter, after having to do this once before, that I had become brand loyal to the brand of filters I had bought since I had never wanted to try a new brand. It was also just a habit, but I knew I would have to try a different brand. Well we had to throw out the old system, since it was disgusting, and replaced it with a much cheaper one. We are college students so sometimes you have to settle on cheaper products. I had to satisfice since they did not have the brand I used. This new filter did not work very well. I ended up having to buy a whole new filter system just because the new one we had bought was so awful. I now have a pretty nice filter system that extensively filters the water. Through this experience, I have had some buyer's remorse with the cheap filter system. In the end, I realized that I needed to search for the filter system with the attributes that I wanted. I found a great product that is still working!

ice cream letdown

The other day my mom and siblings came for the afternoon to visit. My little sister insisted we go to some candy shop downtown that she had been to on a field trip. We go and buy some candy and then head next door to the attached ice cream shop. My mom asked what the "witches brew" special was and the cashier said "pumpkin pie fudge..something"..whatever it was, it sounded delicious. I had previously had the Dairy queen pumpkin pie blizzard several times and thoroughly enjoyed it. I figured this one would not only taste the same but inconceivably better because of the great name tagged to it. I order it with a small cone, anxiously await for it's delivery, I take it and sit down with my siblings, take one bite and.. it was absolutely disgusting. My mom and I both look at each other optimistically and say, "yeah..it's pretty good". Another minute later we both throw them down in utter disappointment. I'm no food/ ice cream expert but this stuff had way too much cinnamon or some sort of spice because it was very spicy. So there I was, watching my genius 4 year old sister lick her choice of birthday cake ice cream and my brother with his peanut butter brownie. Not the first time they made a better decision than me. So the problem here was the preconceived notion that the product I was purchasing would be to my liking because of a comparison I made to a similar product. Lesson learned, always get a sample first.

Zapping

The other day I was confronted with many people’s worst nightmare, no I’m not talking about an extremely large spider that happens to be on the wall next to you; but instead when for some reason you aren’t able to skip through commercials due to Comcast locking that feature for a particular show. I have always quickly skipped through or “zapped” through commercials to get back to that oh so ever drama filled weekly soap opera of mine but now I was forced to sit through the agonizing 3-5minutes of commercials. While the anxiety slowly built up for who killed Mrs. Jackson, a commercial suddenly came on that caught my attention and relieved me from the frantic hysteria of the show. The commercial that was playing was the Travelers Insurance commercial, where there was a dog that protects his dog house from the “cat burglar”. I thought it was an extremely clever and funny commercial but more importantly it made me curious about Travelers Insurance. The curiosity sparked from the commercial then put a thought in my mind. As an advertiser I would hate zapping and what it meant for consumers. If zapping were to be stopped advertisers would be able to reach their target market in a much more efficient manner than losing millions of dollars in advertisements that may never be seen by the majority of the public. In the end I personally think that the consumer could step away from that anxiety of their soap opera and take in the entertainment and hard work put on by the advertisement agencies. In the end one commercial that catches your attention may be a company and service that you decide to purchase and invest in. I can personally speak truth behind this for I am now a customer of Travelers Insurance.